Locating a device in a given state

ABSTRACT

Methods and computer program products for locating devices having a given state by locating a device using an RFID tag associated with the device that responds to queries from an RFID tag reader independently of the state of the device, and determining the state of the device using an RFID tag associated with the device that responds selectively in dependence upon the state of the device. The invention also includes systems for locating devices having a given state. The systems comprise an RFID tag reader for locating a device by reading an RFID tag associated with the device that responds independently of the state of the device, and an RFID tag reader for determining the state of the device by reading an RFID tag associated with the device that responds selectively in dependence upon the state of the device.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

Attention is directed to the commonly assigned, co-pending U.S. patentapplication by the same inventors, entitled “Network Management UsingSuppressible RFID Tags.”

BACKGROUND

The present invention concerns the field of inventory management, andmore particularly concerns using RFID tags to locate devices and otherassets having a given state.

Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags provide an inexpensive way tomanage inventory by enabling the process of locating various devices.Here, locating a device means determining its coordinates or position ina spatially referenced sense, where the term coordinates is usedbroadly. The coordinates can be, for example, latitude and longitude,distance and direction from a known reference point, proximity to agiven intersection such as the intersection of aisles in an office orwarehouse, a shelf label location in a warehouse, a room number in anoffice building, and so forth.

In some situations, an RFID infrastructure can be set up having a numberof stationary RFID tag readers located throughout a building or campus,and an edge controller to collate or consolidate information provided bythe RFID tag readers. Such a system, which may be called an RFIDnetworked-system application, can locate or track monitored devices thatare equipped with RFID tags as the devices move within a geographicarea. For example, such a system may be used to locate and trackequipment carts in a hospital, forklifts or textbooks in a warehouse,and the like.

Although such RFID networked-system applications are quite effective inlocating and tracking devices, they are unable to provide anyinformation concerning the devices beyond their locations. Inparticular, RFID networked-system applications fail to convey anyinformation regarding the state of the monitored devices. This can be asignificant limitation. For example, hospital staff may use such asystem to locate the nearest equipment cart, only to find that thenearest cart is presently in use. Likewise, a factory foreman may locatethe nearest forklift using such as system, only to find that its batteryis discharged.

Thus, there is a need to improve RFID networked-system applications byenabling them to provide state information in addition to locations andtrajectories.

SUMMARY

Aspects of the invention include methods and computer program productsfor locating devices having a given state by locating a device using anRFID tag reader and a first RFID tag associated with the device thatresponds to queries from an RFID tag reader independently of the stateof the device, and determining the state of the device using an RFID tagreader and a second RFID tag associated with the device that respondsselectively in dependence upon the state of the device. Another aspectof the invention includes systems for locating devices having a givenstate. The systems comprise an RFID tag reader for locating a device byreading a first RFID tag associated with the device that respondsindependently of the state of the device, and an RFID tag reader fordetermining the state of the device by reading a second RFID tagassociated with the device that responds selectively in dependence uponthe state of the device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention may be better understood by reading the following detaileddescription together with the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a conventional RFID tag;

FIGS. 2A-2B show block diagrams of exemplary suppressible RFID tags;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram that shows aspects of a system for locatingdevices having a given state;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram that shows aspects of a monitored device whosestate may be represented by a binary value;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram that shows aspects of a monitored device whosestate may be represented by a multi-bit value; and

FIG. 6 is a flowchart that shows aspects of a method for locatingdevices that have a given state.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter, withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which illustrativeembodiments of the invention are shown. Throughout the drawings, likenumbers refer to like elements.

The invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms, andshould not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein;rather, these embodiments are provided so that the disclosure will bethorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the inventionto those skilled in the art.

As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, aspects of thepresent invention may be embodied as a method, data processing system,or computer program product. Accordingly, aspects of the presentinvention may take the form of embodiments entirely in hardware,entirely in software, or in a combination of hardware and softwarereferred to as circuits and modules.

Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of acomputer program product on a computer-usable storage medium havingcomputer-usable program code embodied in the medium. Any suitablecomputer-readable medium may be utilized, including hard disks, CD-ROMs,optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, and transmissionmedia such as those supporting the Internet or an intranet.

Computer program code for carrying out operations of the presentinvention may be written in an object oriented programming language suchas Java, Smalltalk, or C++. However, the computer program code forcarrying out operations of the present invention may also be written inconventional procedural programming languages, such as the C programminglanguage. The program code may execute entirely on a single computer ordistributed over a plurality of computers.

The present invention is described below with reference to flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), andcomputer program products according to embodiments of the invention. Itwill be understood that blocks of the flowchart illustrations anddiagrams may be implemented by computer program instructions. Thesecomputer program instructions may be provided to a processor of ageneral purpose computer, special purpose computer, or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such thatthe instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer orother programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions and/or acts specified in the flowchart and/orblock diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the functions or acts specified in the flowchart and/orblock diagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that theinstructions that execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions and/or actsspecified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a conventional RFID tag. This diagram isintroduced mainly as a descriptive convenience to be used in clearlydifferentiating the suppressible RFID tag described below with referenceto FIG. 2 from the conventional RFID tag of FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional RFID tag 100 comprises a transceiver110, a power converter 120, and a tag antenna 130. As is well known tothose skilled in the art, a conventional passive RFID tag receiveselectromagnetic energy through the tag antenna 130 when read or queriedby a tag reader. The power converter 120, which may be, for example, arectifier and a simple filter such as a capacitor, transforms thereceived energy into a form suitable to power the transceiver 110, inorder that the transceiver 110 may respond to the tag reader. Incontrast to passive RFID tags, active RFID tags may include an internalpower source such as a small battery, which eliminates the need to powerthe transceiver 110 from energy received by the tag antenna 130. Sinceconventional RFID tags both passive and active are well known to thoseskilled in the art, no further elaboration will be given here.

A type of RFID tag called here a suppressible RFID tag will now bedescribed with reference to FIGS. 2A-2B. Unlike a conventional RFID tagof the kind just described, which may respond to the tag reader wheneverthe tag is within range of the reader, a suppressible RFID tag mayrespond selectively to the tag reader, in dependence upon a conditionthat is conveyed by a control signal that is externally provided to thesuppressible RFID tag. Thus, to say that a suppressible RFID tagresponds selectively means that the tag responds to queries from an RFIDtag reader, or does not respond, depending on the state of the controlsignal.

FIG. 2A shows an exemplary structure of a suppressible RFID tag 200. InFIG. 2A, the suppressible RFID tag 200 comprises a transceiver 210, atag antenna 230, control circuitry 240, and a port 250. The suppressibleRFID tag 200 may be active or passive. In a preferred embodiment, thesuppressible RFID tag 200 is passive, meaning that power for thetransceiver 210 is derived from energy received from a tag reader by thetag antenna 230.

A control signal, which may be conveyed by the standard voltage levelsthat represent the logical binary states for an appropriate integratedcircuit technology type, may be provided to the suppressible RFID tag200 through the port 250. In this example, the port 250 may be a simpleelectrical connection. A galvanic electrical connection is not required,however, as the control signal may be input to the suppressible RFID tag200 by, for example, inductive or capacitive coupling. If thesuppressible RFID tag 200 is active rather than passive, the controlsignal may be multiplexed onto an electrical connection that powers thesuppressible RFID tag 200 from an external source.

The control signal is provided to the control circuitry 240. Subject tothe control signal, the control circuitry 240 effectively enables orsuppresses the response of the transceiver 210 when the suppressibleRFID tag 200 is queried by a tag reader, thereby enabling thesuppressible RFID tag 200 to respond to a tag reader selectively independence upon the control signal. For example, if the control signalis a logical high, the control circuitry 240 may permit or enable thetransceiver 210 to respond to a query from a tag reader. Conversely, ifthe control signal is a logical low, the control circuitry 240 maysuppress or otherwise inhibit the response of the transceiver 210. Ofcourse, the logic may differ from that just described.

FIG. 2B shows an example of a suppressible RFID tag 200 with aparticular kind of control circuitry 240. In this example, the controlcircuitry 240 comprises a switching device that, responsive to thecontrol signal, makes and breaks a connection between the tag antenna230 and the transceiver 210, so that an emission from the transceiver210 can or cannot reach the tag antenna 230. The switching device maybe, for example, a biased PIN diode, a field effect transistor (FET), aMEMS device, or the like; the control circuitry 240 or the port 250 mayinclude an appropriate driver for the switching device.

In other embodiments, the switching device may have asingle-pole-double-throw structure that connects the transceiver 210 tothe tag antenna 230 in one state, and, in the other state, connects thetransceiver 210 to a dummy load such as a strip resistor depositedwithin the suppressible RFID tag 200. In this embodiment, emissions fromthe transceiver 210 are radiated by the tag antenna 230, or suppressedby shunting them to ground through the resistor. Such a switching devicecan be easily implemented by a pair of diodes or transistors, as wouldbe well known to those skilled in circuit design.

It is not a necessary condition of the invention that the mechanism forsuppressing the output of the suppressible RFID tag 200 involvemanipulating the RF path between the transceiver 210 and the tag antenna230. Rather, in yet other embodiments of the suppressible RFID tag 200the control circuitry 240 may make and break power to the transceiver210, disable the transceiver 210 at intermediate points internal to thetransceiver 210, and the like.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of an exemplary system for locating devicesin a given state. For example, the system is suitable for use in ahospital to locate equipment carts or in a warehouse to locateforklifts. Beyond simply locating such devices, however, the systemaccording to FIG. 3 provides information regarding the state of locateddevices. In the example of the hospital equipment cart, the state of acart may be “in-use” or “available.” States of this sort have twopossibilities, and may therefore be represented by a single-bit binaryvalue. Here, the term “in-use” is to be interpreted broadly,encompassing, for example, the case of “reserved,” “disabled,” and thelike.

In other cases, states may have more than two possibilities. In the caseof forklifts, the state may be a quantized battery voltage. For example,this may have four values: less than 11.5 volts, between 11.5 and 12.0,between 12.0 and 12.5, and greater than 12.5. The four values can berepresented by a two-bit binary number. Thus, the four values may berepresented by the bit-level contents of a two-bit register associatedwith the forklift's power supply. For example, register contents ‘00°may represent a battery voltage of less than 11.5 volts; ‘01’ mayrepresent a battery voltage between 11.5 and 12.0, and so forth.

It is important to emphasize that the examples of the hospital cart andthe forklift are provided here only in the interest of describing theinvention clearly. These examples will be used again in the descriptionthat follows. The invention, however, is not limited in any way to thenature, structure, context, or circumstances of these examples.

As shown in FIG. 3, a monitoring application 300, which may execute on apersonal computer or other workstation, may provide a GUI to a user, inorder that the user may control the operation of the system for locatingdevices having a given state. Beyond this, the monitoring application300 is incidental to the invention.

An RFID edge controller 310 interfaces to the monitoring application 300and to RFID tag readers 320 and 330. RFID tag reader 320 is used tolocate a monitored device 340 conventionally by reading an RFID tag 350that is associated with the monitored device 340. An RFID tag may beassociated with a monitored device by placing the RFID tag on or nearbythe device. For example, the RFID tag may be affixed to the monitoreddevice 340 or to a structure nearby the monitored device 340, built intothe monitored device 340, and so forth. The RFID tag 350 may be aconventional, passive RFID tag that responds to queries by an RFID tagreader such as RFID tag reader 320 independently of the state of themonitored device 340. RFID tag reader 330 is used to determine the stateof the monitored device 340 by reading an RFID tag 360 associated withthe device 340, where the RFID tag 360 responds to queries from an RFIDtag reader such as RFID tag reader 330 selectively, in dependence uponthe state of the monitored device 340. Although RFID tag readers 320 and330 are shown as being separate RFID tag readers in FIG. 3 fordescriptive clarity, in practice a single RFID tag reader may be usedrather than two separate ones.

As mentioned above, the RFID tag 360 responds to queries from an RFIDtag reader selectively, in dependence upon the state of the monitoreddevice 340. In other words, the RFID tag 360 responds to queries from anRFID tag reader, or not, according to a control signal provided to theRFID tag 360, where the control signal indicates the state of themonitored device. Logic 370 provides the control signal, as describedbelow with reference to FIGS. 4-5.

FIG. 4 shows the use of the RFID tag 360 to monitor the state of a powersupply 400 that powers the monitored device 340. This is an example of acase wherein the state of a monitored device may be represented by aone-bit binary value. In a preferred embodiment, the RFID tag 360 is asuppressible RFID tag like RFID tag 200. Here, the state logic 370 maybe a simple threshold or voltage-conversion structure. The outputvoltage of the power supply 400 is sensed by the control logic 370. Whenthe output voltage exceeds an appropriate threshold, i.e., the powersupply is on, the control logic 370 enables the RFID tag 360 to respondto queries from an RFID card reader. When the output voltage falls belowthe threshold, i.e., the power supply is off, the control logic 370prohibits the RFID tag 360 from responding to queries. Thus, a binaryvalue (e.g., above or below the threshold) is indicative of the state ofthe monitored device 340, and the state of the monitored device 340 maybe found by determining the binary value that is indicative of itsstate.

This approach may be extended to apply to the example of a hospital cartintroduced earlier, by using the binary value describing the state ofthe power supply of an electrical or electronic device on a cart as aproxy for the state of the cart itself. If the power supply is on, asdetermined by querying the RFID tag 360, the cart may be presumed to bein-use. Likewise, if the power supply is off, the cart may be presumedto be available for use.

FIG. 5 shows the use of the RFID tag 360 to monitor the state of ananalog device 380 such as a battery in, for example, a forklift. This isan example of a case wherein the state of a monitored device may berepresented by a multi-bit value. Because the state considered in thesituation of FIG. 5 has more possible values than the state consideredin the situation of FIG. 4, specific implementations of the controllogic 370 may in practice be more complex.

FIG. 5 shows an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter 372, which senses aparameter of the analog device 380, and provides a quantized digitalrepresentation. This representation is loaded into a register 371 thatis associated with the monitored analog device 380. Here, the term“associated” means operably connected rather than necessarilygeographically proximate. It is not a necessary condition of theinvention that the register 371 be literally a separately identifiableelectronic entity.

In the example introduced earlier, a battery that powers or starts aforklift may be the analog device 380. Terminal voltage of the batterymay be sensed and quantized to, for example, one of sixteen levels orpossibilities by the A/D converter 372, resulting in a four-bit wordthat is provided to the register 371. Hence, the state of the monitoredanalog device 380 may be found by determining the value of a four-bitword.

As shown in FIG. 5, each bit position of the register 371 has one-to-onecorrespondence with an RFID tag, here RFID tags 360, 361, 362, and 363,which respond selectively to queries from an RFID tag reader, each tagto convey a bit value of the register 371. Thus, the bit values of theregister 371 provide control signals for RFID tags 360-363. In apreferred embodiment, the RFID tags 360-363 are suppressible RFID tagslike suppressible RFID tag 200 described earlier.

For example, suppose that the first bit of the register 371 has thebinary value 1, the second bit has the binary value 1, the third bit hasthe value binary 0, and the fourth bit has the binary value 0. In thiscase, RFID tags 360 and 361 are enabled to respond to queries from RFIDtag reader 330, whereas RFID tags 362 and 363 are prohibited fromresponding. So, by querying the RFID tags 360-363, the RFID tag reader330 is able to deduce the contents of the register 371, and therebydetermine the state of the monitored analog device 380 by effectivelyreading the register 371.

It is important to note that although the example just given concerns ananalog device 380, this is not a limitation of the invention. Rather,the invention applies as well when the monitored device provides adirect digital output. In such a case, the A/D converter 372 would notbe needed.

FIG. 6 shows aspects of a method for locating devices that have a givenstate. A user who wishes to locate such a device enters a requestthrough the GUI provided by the monitoring application 300 (block 600).The nearest device is located (block 605) conventionally, using an RFIDnetworked-system application, through the capabilities of the RFID tagreader 320 and the conventional RFID tag 350. The state of the locateddevice is then determined (block 610) as described earlier, using thecapabilities of the RFID tag reader 330 and the RFID tag 360 or RFIDtags 360-363, which respond to queries selectively in dependence uponthe state of the located device as described earlier. If the determinedstate is suitable with regard to the user's request (block 615; yes),the located device is identified to the user (block 620), and the methodreturns to await another request (block 600).

Otherwise (i.e., the determined state is not suitable; block 615, no),the next nearest device is located (block 630), using the RFIDnetworked-system application, through the capabilities of the RFID tagreader 320 and the conventional RFID tag 350. The method returns toblock 610 to determine the state of this next-nearest located device, asdescribed above. From this point, the method continues iteratively,until a device having a suitable state is located, or until all of thedevices under the purview of the system have been examined withoutfinding a device having a suitable state.

Although the foregoing has described methods, computer program products,and systems for locating devices having a given state, the descriptionof the invention is illustrative rather than limiting; the invention islimited only by the claims that follow.

1. A method for locating a device in a given state, comprising: locatinga device using an RFID tag reader and a first RFID tag associated withthe device; and determining the state of the device using an RFID tagreader and a second RFID tag associated with the device; wherein thefirst RFID tag responds to queries from an RFID tag reader independentlyof the state of the device, and the second RFID tag responds to queriesfrom an RFID tag reader selectively in dependence upon the state of thedevice.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the RFID tag reader forlocating the device and the RFID tag reader for determining the state ofthe device are the same RFID tag reader.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein determining the state of the device comprises determining abinary value indicative of the state of the device.
 4. The method ofclaim 3, wherein the binary value indicates whether the device is in-usewhen the second RFID tag is read.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein thesecond RFID tag is a suppressible RFID tag.
 6. The method of claim 5,wherein the suppressible RFID tag monitors a power supply of the device.7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the state of the devicecomprises determining a multi-bit value indicative of the state of thedevice.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein determining the multi-bitvalue comprises reading a register associated with the device using aplurality of RFID tags.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein reading theregister comprises reading a plurality of suppressible RFID tags thatare in one-to-one correspondence with bits of the register, eachsuppressible RFID tag conveying a bit value of the register when read.10. A system for locating a device in a given state, comprising: an RFIDtag reader for locating a device by reading a first RFID tag associatedwith the device, wherein the first RFID tag responds to the RFID tagreader for locating the device independently of the state of the device;and an RFID tag reader for determining the state of the device byreading a second RFID tag associated with the device, wherein the secondRFID tag responds to the RFID tag reader for determining the state ofthe device selectively in dependence upon the state of the device. 11.The system of claim 10, wherein the RFID tag reader for locating thedevice and the RFID tag reader for determining the state of the deviceare the same RFID tag reader.
 12. The system of claim 10, whereindetermining the state of the device comprises determining a binary valueindicative of the state of the device.
 13. The system of claim 12,wherein the binary value indicates whether the device is in-use when thesecond RFID tag is read.
 14. The system of claim 12, wherein the secondRFID tag is a suppressible RFID tag.
 15. The system of claim 14, whereinthe suppressible RFID tag monitors a power supply of the device.
 16. Thesystem of claim 10, wherein determining the state of the devicecomprises determining a multi-bit value indicative of the state of thedevice.
 17. The system of claim 16, wherein determining the multi-bitvalue comprises reading a register associated with the device using aplurality of RFID tags.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein contents ofthe register are determined by reading a plurality of suppressible RFIDtags that are in one-to-one correspondence with bits of the register andconvey values of the bits of the register when read.
 19. A computerprogram product for locating a device in a given state, said computerprogram product comprising a computer readable medium having computerreadable program code tangibly embodied therein, said computer readableprogram code comprising: computer readable program code configured tolocate a device using an RFID tag reader and a first RFID tag associatedwith the device that responds to queries from an RFID tag readerindependently of the state of the device; and computer readable programcode configured to determine the state of the device using an RFID tagreader and a second RFID tag associated with the device that responds toqueries from an RFID tag reader selectively in dependence upon the stateof the device.
 20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein theRFID tag reader used to locate the device and the RFID tag reader usedto determine the state of the device are the same RFID tag reader. 21.The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the computer readableprogram code configured to determine the state of the device comprisescomputer readable program code configured to determine a binary valueindicative of the state of the device.
 22. The computer program productof claim 21, wherein the binary value indicates whether the device isin-use when the second RFID tag is read.
 23. The computer programproduct of claim 22, wherein the second RFID tag is a suppressible RFIDtag.
 24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein thesuppressible RFID tag monitors a power supply of the device.
 25. Thecomputer program product of claim 19, wherein the computer readableprogram code configured to determine the state of the device comprisescomputer readable program code configured to determine a multi-bit valueindicative of the state of the device.
 26. The computer program productof claim 25, wherein the computer readable program code configured todetermine the multi-bit value comprises computer readable program codeconfigured to read a register associated with the device using aplurality of RFID tags.
 27. The computer program product of claim 26,wherein the computer readable program code configured to read theregister comprises computer readable program code configured to read aplurality of suppressible RFID tags that are in one-to-onecorrespondence with bits of the register, each suppressible RFID tagconveying a bit value of the register when read.